Myron Arms Hofer

Born in New York City, Hofer’s family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1939 when his father, Philip Hofer, became curator of the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts at Harvard's newly built Houghton Library. Hofer went to school and college in the Boston area and married in 1954. His wife, Lynne, co-founded [https://web.archive.org/web/20120204051349/http://www.tribecafilm.com/filmguide/archive/Young_Filmmakers_Rediscovered_1964-1974.html the Young Filmaker's Foundation] and later became a psychoanalyst. The Hofers have three children and eight grandchildren.

Hofer graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School (MD 1958), did his residency training in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and in Psychiatry at New York State Psychiatric Institute, followed by post-doctoral research at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the American Museum of Natural History, before joining the department of psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1966, where he began his animal model research. In 1984, Hofer moved with his research group to the [https://archive.today/20130813002936/http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/pi/faculty/ Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons], and in 2000 was appointed Director of the [https://web.archive.org/web/20110918031816/http://www.sacklerinstitute.org/columbia/ Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology].

Following his early clinical research as member of the NIMH group studying threatened loss and bereavement in the parents of children with leukemia,Bowlby, J. (1980) “Attachment and Loss,Vol.3, Loss, Sadness and Depression” Basic Books-Harper Collins, Ch. 7, 112–125, Ch.9, 143–156 Hofer turned to animal model research to study the biological basis for the impact of separation and loss in a typical laboratory mammal. He described widespread bio-behavioral effects in infant rats during the hours after separation from their mothers, and defined the mechanisms for these effects as withdrawal (i.e. loss) of numerous unexpected regulators of infant physiology and behavior that he found within the sensorimotor, thermal and nutrient-based interactions between mothers and their infants. The discovery of these “hidden regulators” added a new dimension to the concept of early attachment.Sullivan R, Perry R, Sloan R, Kleinhaus K, Burtchen, N (2011) “Infant bonding and attachment to the caregiver: Insights from basic and clinical science” “Clin. Perinatol.” 38: 648Main M (1999) “Epilogue: Attachment Theory” in Cassidy J and Shaver PR. (Eds) “Handbook of Attachment” Guilford Press pp. 845, 849, 865–866 Hofer and his colleaguesHarry Shair, Susan Brunelli, Michael Myers, Sigurd Ackerman, Herbert Weiner, Jonathan Polan and William Fifer went on to study infant behaviors that initiate and maintain proximity to the mother and mediate complex interactions such as nursing, and sleep-wake state regulation,Rosenblatt JS ( 2010) “Behavioral development during the mother-young interaction in placental mammals” in Hood KE, Halpern CT, Greenberg G and Lerner R (Eds) “Handbook of Developmental Science, Behavior and Genetics” Wiley Blackwell pp. 212–213 and showed that altering the patterns and types of interactions between mothers and infants caused short and long-term changes in offspring development, and biological vulnerability, extending into adulthood, even into the next generation.Pryce CR and Feldon J (2003) “Long-term neurobehavioural impact of the postnatal environment in rats: manipulations, effects and mediating mechanisms” “Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews” 27: 57Glavin GB, Murisonb R, Overmier JB, Pared RP, Bakke HK, Henkef PG and Hernandez DG (1991) “The Neurobiology of stress ulcers” “Brain Research Reviews” 16: 306 and 309

These studies provided clues and ideas that have guided subsequent research on human mother-infant attachment behaviors,Winberg J (2005) "Mother and newborn baby: mutual regulation of physiology and behavior-a selective review" "Developmental Psychobiology" 47: 217–229 and clinical research and thinking about human bereavement.Shear K and Shair H (2005) “Attachment, Loss and Complicated Grief” “Developmental Psychobiology” 47 (3): 253–267

Subsequent research led to an animal model for studying the development of anxiety, extending from childhood separation sensitivity to adult anxiety disorder. Hofer and colleagues explored how the ultrasonic isolation calling response of the infant rat{{Cite web |url=http://www.avisoft.com/rats.htm |title=(USV) |access-date=2011-09-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110917080017/http://www.avisoft.com/rats.htm |archive-date=2011-09-17 |url-status=dead }} is regulated at the sensory, behavioral and neurochemical levels.Branchi I, Santucci D and Alleva E (2001) “Ultrasonic vocalisation emitted by infant rodents: a tool for assessment of neurobehavioural development” “Behavioural Brain Research” 125: 50 He then used selective breeding for high and for low levels of the infant trait, as a model for studying evolution and how it can interact with developmental processes in the creation of differences in adult temperament.Simpson HB, Neria Y, Lewis-Fernandez R, and Schneir F (2010) “Anxiety Disorders: Theory, Research, and Clinical Perspectives” Cambridge Univ. Press pp. 358–359

Hofer’s research and its implications have been periodically reported in the Science section of the N.Y. Times.{{cite web |url=http://articles.nytimes.com/1992/10/20/science/the-purpose-of-playful-frolics-training-for-adulthood.html |title=The Purpose of Playful Frolics: Training for Adulthood - New York Times |accessdate=2012-08-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130813002912/http://articles.nytimes.com/1992/10/20/science/the-purpose-of-playful-frolics-training-for-adulthood.html |archivedate=2013-08-13 }}, “Juvenile Play and Later Development” by Natalie Angier, October 20, 1992,[http://search.nytimes.com/1995/08/29/science/behind-veil-thought-advances-brain-research-brain-s-early-growthtimetable-may-be.html], “Early environment and brain growth” by Sandra Blakeslee, August 29, 1995[https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/02/science/essay-human-nature-some-fear-everything-even-fear-itself.html]?pagewanted=print&src=pm], “Human Nature and Fear”, by Natalie Angier, March 2, 1999[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/science/15scibks_excerpt.html] "World Wide Mind", p7. By Michael Chorost, February 14, 2011 He has served on the National Academy of Medicine committee on the management of the consequences of bereavement.Osterweiss, M, Solomon, F and Green, M (eds.), Bereavement: Reactions, Care and Consequences, Washington, DC, National Academy Press, 1984, pp. 145–178 and later on the national advisory committee for development of the [https://web.archive.org/web/20081203141007/http://www.healthysteps.org/healthysteps/homepage.nsf/All/current.html Healthy Steps for Young Children Program] that has been effective in applying new treatment principles in Pediatrics for mothers and young children. He was asked to write the entry on "Development, psychobiology" for the “Encyclopedia of Human Biology”, edited by Renato Dulbecco,Dulbecco, R (Ed.) (1997) “Encyclopedia of Human Biology” 2nd Edition, Academic Press, San Diego, Vol.3: 249–259 and has recently contributed invited chapters on his research and thinking about development, for Handbooks in the fields of attachment, developmental and cognitive neuroscience, mammalian vocalization and anxiety disorders.Cassidy, J and Shaver, PR (Eds.) (2008) “Handbook of Attachment Theory and Research” 2nd Ed., Guilford Press, 162–180Berntson, GG & Cacioppo, JT (Eds.) (2009) “Handbook of Neuroscience for the Behavioral Sciences” Wiley and Sons, New York Vol 1: 12–31Nelson, CA and Luciana, M (Eds.) (2008) “Handbook of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience”- 2nd Ed., MIT Press, 787–805Brudzynski, SM (Ed.) (2010) “Handbook of Mammalian Vocalization” Academic Press, New York, 29–35Stein, DJ, Hollander, E & Rothenbaum, BO (Eds.) (2010) “Textbook of Anxiety Disorders” 2nd Ed., American Psychiatric Publishing Co., 129–145

Hofer was elected president of the [http://www.isdp.org/ International Society for Developmental Psychobiology], and the [http://www.psychosomatic.org/ American Psychosomatic Society], and to membership in the [http://www.academyofbmr.org/ Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research]. His awards include the Thomas William Salmon Memorial Lectures,[http://www.nyam.org/grants/salmon.html at the N.Y. Academy of Medicine] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110702022104/http://www.nyam.org/grants/salmon.html |date=2011-07-02 }} the Senior Investigator Award of the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology, and the Paul Hoch Award, presented at the 2012 meeting of the American Psychopathological Association. An issue of Developmental Psychobiology (journal), was published in 2005 in recognition of his contributions to the field.Special Issue (2005) "Developmental Psychobiology" 47: (3) 199–296

• Hofer, M (1981) The Roots of Human Behavior. WH Freeman, San Francisco
• Skolnick, NJ, Ackerman, SH, Hofer, MA and Weiner, H (1980) Vertical transmission of acquired ulcer susceptibility in the rat. Science 208: 1161–1163.
• Hofer, MA (1984) Relationships as regulators: A psychobiological perspective on bereavement. Psychosom. Med. 46: 183–197
• Brake, SC, Shair, HN and Hofer, MA (1988) Exploiting the Nursing Niche: Infant's sucking and feeding behavior in the context of the mother-infant interaction. Blass, E (Ed.) Developmental Psychobiology and Behavioral Ecology, Vol. 9 Plenum Publishing Corp., New York pp. 347–388
• Hofer, MA (1994) Early relationships as regulators of infant physiology and behavior. Acta Pediatrica Suppl. 397: 9–18
• Hofer, MA (1996) Multiple regulators of ultrasonic vocalization in the infant rat. Psychoneuroendocrinology 21(2): 203–217
• Hofer MA (2002) Unexplained infant crying: an evolutionary perspective. Acta Paediatrica 91: 491–496
• Hofer, MA (2002) The Riddle of Development. In Lewkowicz, DJ and Lickliter, R (Eds.) Conceptions of Development, Psychology Press: Philadelphia pp. 5–29
• Brunelli, SA, Hofer, MA (2007) Selective breeding for infant rat separation-induced ultrasonic vocalizations: Developmental precursors of passive and active coping styles. Behavioural Brain Research 182: 193–207
• Hofer, MA (2009) Developmental Neuroscience. In Berntson, GG and Cacioppo, JT (Eds.), Handbook of Neuroscience for the Behavioral Sciences Vol 1 Wiley & Sons, New York pp. 12–31

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Category:Living people

Category:1931 births

Category:Harvard Medical School alumni

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